Are you battling high blood pressure? There are a few changes you might want to consider making in terms of your diet. Martha Theran, RD, Nutritionist with Pritikin Longevity Center, explains to Eat This, Not That! that tweaking your eating habits can make a big difference in terms of normalizing blood pressure. “Eating a low-calorie density, nutrient-dense, low-processed diet can help bring your blood pressure closer to normal or even within a completely healthy range. You’ll start to see the difference usually within just a few days,” she says. Here are five key habits you should adopt.
Cook More at Home
Her first recommendation is cooking more at home. “Cooking at home is an important part of lowering your blood pressure, which is why it is recommended in the DASH. This means keeping your diet as unprocessed as possible and consuming less things that come in packages, avoiding take-out/restaurant food and really limiting fast food,” she says. “Making your own homemade meals from fresh, low-calorie and nutrient-dense food helps you lower your sodium and sugar intake while increasing your intake of powerful blood pressure-lowering nutrients, like potassium, antioxidants and fiber.”
Increase Fiber Consumption
She also recommends amping up your fiber intake. “Consuming plenty of fiber has been shown to help prevent hypertension,” she says. “Fiber is found in nearly all unprocessed plant foods, so eating fresh vegetables not only helps in increasing fiber intake, but it also aids in lowering your blood pressure.”
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Lower Your Sodium Intake
Third, lower your sodium intake. “A low sodium diet is the recommended approach to controlling high blood pressure because high amounts of sodium, found in basically all processed and packaged foods, are known to worsen high blood pressure by impacting fluid retention and how arteries dilate,” she says. “Sodium is a type of electrolyte that’s balanced by other beneficial electrolytes like potassium and magnesium to keep blood pressure within a healthy range.”
Get More Potassium
Fourth, get more potassium. “A low-potassium, high-sodium diet contributes to high blood pressure, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Potassium — found in foods like green veggies, bananas, sweet potatoes, organic dairy products, beans and avocados — is the third most abundant mineral in the body and is needed to interact with sodium to perform many important functions, including helping lower blood pressure. Potassium naturally increases sodium excretion,” she says.
Stay Hydrated
Finally, make sure to say hydrated. “Drinking enough water each day is important for preventing dehydration and balancing fluids,” she says.
